Fire Emblem-inspired Trueblade class [base] [PEACH][T4]

[InfinityArts]

Trueblades
TL;DR
1. Make lots of attacks.
2. Get better at making lots of attacks as you make lots of attacks.
3. Reduce your enemy to fine red mist.
4. DON'T GET KILLED.
5. Repeat.



http://old.serenesforest.net/media/fe10illust/e/zihark_en.png
Because Zihark is the best darn swordfighter ever created by Nintento (not me, Nintendo).

"If I teach you any more than this... Then I will have to cut you down where you stand. I would cleave you in two before you could take a single breath. - Karel (to Guy)

Kittens(!): Because I'm bad at fluff.

Role: A mobile striker adept at singling out squishy priority targets. Combines Iaijutsu, relentless attack, and powerful criticals to quickly take down adversaries (read: not Power Attack). High mobility, relies almost exclusively on movement to stay alive. Low-to-mid T4. Has sporadic progression, with huge power spikes at certain levels (trying to replicate a promotion system reminiscent of FE).

Shortcomings: Dice rolls for days.

Alignment: The Sacaean plains from which these fighters hail encourages a nomadic lifestyle and fosters great freedom of spirit. Strong-willed and not easily swayed, trueblades are usually of chaotic alignment.


Hit Die: d6

Starting Gold: As fighter.

Class Skills
The Trueblade's class skills (and the key ability for each skill) are Balance (Dex), Climb (Str), Concentration (Con), Craft (Int), Diplomacy (Cha), Escape Artist (Dex), Gather Information (Cha), Handle Animal (Cha), Iaijutsu Focus (Cha), Intimidate (Cha), Jump (Str), Knowledge (nature) (Int), Knowledge (geography) (Int), Listen (Wis), Profession (Wis), Ride (Dex), Sense Motive (Wis), Spot (Wis), Survival (Wis), Swim (Str), and Tumble (Dex).

Skill Ranks per Level: (4 + Int modifier) (x4 at first level)

Trueblade


Level
Base Attack Bonus
Fort Save
Ref Save
Will Save
Special


1st
+1
+0
+2
+2
Free Spirit, Steps of the Wind, Sworn to the Blade


2nd
+2
+0
+3
+3
Thousand Cuts +1, Vermillion Gusts


3rd
+3
+1
+3
+3
Iaido


4th
+4
+1
+4
+4
Evasion


5th
+5
+1
+4
+4
Astra, Echo Blade, Thousand Cuts +2


6th
+6/+1
+2
+5
+5
Improved Steps of the Wind


7th
+7/+2
+2
+5
+5
Bonus Fighter Feat, Iaido (Strike from the Void)


8th
+8/+3
+2
+6
+6
Improved Free Spirit


9th
+9/+4
+3
+6
+6
Uncanny Dodge, Parity Duel


10th
+10/+5
+3
+7
+7
Improved Astra, Improved Sworn to the Blade, Thousand Cuts +3


11th
+11/+6/+1
+3
+7
+7
Greater Steps of the Wind


12th
+12/+7/+2
+4
+8
+8
Improved Vermillion Gusts


13th
+13/+8/+3
+4
+8
+8
Bonus Fighter Feat


14th
+14/+9/+4
+4
+9
+9
Iaido (Sudden Death)


15th
+15/+10/+5
+5
+9
+9
Greater Astra, Thousand Cuts +4


16th
+16/+11/+6/+1
+5
+10
+10
Greater Sworn to the Blade


17th
+17/+12/+7/+2
+5
+10
+10
Greater Vermillion Gusts


18th
+18/+13/+8/+3
+6
+11
+11
Parity Duel (Nihil)


19th
+19/+14/+9/+4
+6
+11
+11
Bonus Fighter Feat


20th
+20/+15/+10/+5
+6
+12
+12
Trueblade, Thousand Cuts +5




Class Features
All of the following are class features of the Trueblade.

Weapon and Armor Proficiency: Trueblades are proficient with all simple weapons, as well as the short sword, longsword, and the bastard sword (katana). They are not proficient with any armor or shield.

Free Spirit (Ex): The nomads of Sacae are born free and remain so for their entire lives. Bonds such as family and kinship hold little significance to one whose only constant companion are blade and solitude, and whose judge lies only within. Such freedom can only be defended by self and self alone. Anytime the Trueblade is subject to an effect that would inhibit his movement (such as the spell slow, or a grapple attempt) or a mind-affecting/compulsion effect, he adds half his class level (min 1) to the respective save or skill check to prevent such an effect. He also receives the same bonus to escape from such an effect, should subsequent rolls be allowed (such as escaping bonds via the Escape Artist skill). This does not grant the Trueblade additional saving throws or skill checks where none such checks are allowed.

At level 8, once a day, if the Trueblade were to succumb to a mind-affecting/compulsion effect or one that would inhibit his movement, he immediately gain the benefits of a Freedom of Movement or Mindblank as appropriate to escape his predicament (both at CL = his class level). This power manifests without conscious decision from the Trueblade and continues to function for a time period appropriate to the CL it was cast. The Trueblade cannot benefit from both effects simultaneously.

Steps of the Wind (Ex): Hunting in the tall grasses of the plains sometimes requires subtlety and finesse. In others, it just demands being faster than your prey. 1 + 1/2 class level + DEX mod rounds per day, the Trueblade can gain a bonus to his Base Land Speed equivalent to five times his DEX modifier (minimum +5 ft). On the round that Steps of the Wind is active and the Trueblade moves at least half his total movement speed (base + SotW bonus + other speed enhancing effects such as the haste spell), he gains partial concealment until the beginning of his next round. Activating Steps of the Wind is a free action that occurs at the time of movement.

At level 6, his bonus land speed increases to ten times his DEX modifier, and he no longer provokes attacks of opportunities from movement. While SotW is active, the Trueblade can make a full-round attack as a standard action.

At level 11, the bonus speed granted increases again to fifteen times his Dex modifier. In addition, the Trueblade's roam is now no longer limited to the earth, he can fly at the bonus speed granted (he has no base fly speed), and can maintain his flight as long as he still has rounds of Steps of the Wind remaining (and continues to use it). He has perfect maneuverability while flying and gains total concealment to all attacks, though enemies may still target him, (as per the effects of the spell displacement) while Greater Steps of the Wind is active.

Sworn to the Blade (Ex): At 1st level, the Trueblade gains Weapon Finesse as a bonus feat for free, he does not need to meet the requirements of the feat. However, he can choose only the shortsword, longsword, or bastard sword as the weapon of choice for this feat.

At level 12, the critical damage multiplier for the weapon chosen for the free Weapon Finesse feat granted at level 3 increases by 1 (2x->3x, for example). The Trueblade gains the ability to deal critical damage on foes normally immune to crits, although at a -1 multiplier to damage. The target must also make a Fortitude save at (10 + ½ Trueblade class level + DEX mod) or be dazed for 1 round.

At level 18, the critical multiplier again increases by 1. A failed save bestows the stunned condition instead (or, if the target is immune to stun, still applies the dazed condition).

Thousand Cuts (Ex): The Trueblade's quick and unexpected strikes easily overwhelm slower enemies. For each successful attack on the same enemy, the Trueblade gains a Sword counter. He loses all Sword counters if he switches to a different target or misses an attack. Sword counters can only be gained or lost by standard or iterative attacks (including extra attacks gained through haste or similar effects), with the exception of special interactions with Astra and Vermillion Gusts. For each Sword counter, the Trueblade gains an extra +1 to his attack and damage rolls. In addition, the Trueblade ignores 5% of concealment for every Sword Counter he has on his foe.

At 5th level and every fifth level thereafter, the bonus to attack and damage rolls increases by 1 per Sword counter, to a maximum of +5 at level 20. He can have a maximum number of sword counters equal to his DEX modifier.

Vermillion Gusts (Ex): The wind itself becomes an ally to the Trueblade's furious motion. Once per round as a standard action, the Trueblade may call on the winds to aid him in striking a single, decisive blow. He expends 3 (or all, whichever is fewer, minimum 1) of his remaining rounds of Steps of the Wind for the day and makes a single attack roll with tripled threat range (stacks with Improved Critical or the Keen property for quadruple threat range). The Trueblade adds (1/2 of the current Sword counters + 1) times his DEX modifier to damage, and the attack’s damage type is a magical [force] effect. If this blow would reduce his target’s health to 0 or lower, the Trueblade regains 4 rounds of his Steps of the Wind ability, up to his maximum for the day.

At 12th level, the Trueblade may expend another 3 rounds of Steps of the Wind to increase his Sword counters by 4 for this attack only (this can exceed his maximum number of Sword Counters as permitted by his DEX mod). He regains 8 rounds of SotW if this boosted attack fells his foe.

At 17th level, the Trueblade may perform Vermillion Gusts immediately after an Iaijutsu Focus attack if the latter was executed as a standard action or attack of opportunity.

Regardless of the outcome of the attack, all remaining Sword counters are set to 0.

Iaido (Ex): At 3rd level, If the Trueblade begins his turn with his weapon sheathed, he may draw his weapon as a free action as part of an attack action. Additionally, on making a full-round attack, the Trueblade may choose to forgo any number of iterative attacks and sheath his weapon as a free action. For every attack forfeited this way, he gains a +3 to attack rolls for the next round.

At 7th level, the Trueblade adds his CHA modifier to each dice of damage rolled for an Iaijutsu Focus attack, as per the Strike From the Void class feature of the Iaijutsu Master. While his weapon is sheathed, the Trueblade does not threaten any enemy in range with the exception of his current Thousand Cuts target. If the target provokes an attack of opportunity from the Trueblade, he may draw and apply his Iaijutsu Focus skill to the attack.

At 14th level, if the Trueblade is below 30% of his maximum hit points when he makes an Iaijutsu Focus attack, he maximizes the number of Sword Counters before the attack as well as the damage done on all dice rolled. The maximized number of Sword Counters persist after the attack.

If the Trueblade fells an enemy with an Iaijutsu Focus attack, he regains 1 round of his Steps of the Wind ability, up to his maximum for the day.

Evasion (Ex): At 4th level, the Trueblade gains the Evasion extraordinary ability as per the Rogue. If he already has the Evasion class feature from another class, the Trueblade instead receives the Improved Evasion upgrade.

Astra (Ex): At 5th level, anytime the Trueblade makes a full-round attack, he can instead expend 2 rounds of his SotW power to unleash Astra. A rush of wind is accompanied by five quick strikes in place of one. Each of these attacks is made at the Trueblade’s highest attack bonus, though their damage is halved. Calculate all damage and DR effects as normal, and halve the final result. Bonus damage from Iaijutsu Focus, if applicable, is applied only to the first strike, and its damage is not halved.

At 10th level, the Trueblade adds his CHA modifier to the damage each attack inflicts (after being halved).

At 15th level, the Trueblade can make his DEX mod number of attacks, if his DEX mod is greater than 5.

If the Trueblade has Sword Counters on his Astra target, treat all attacks as if he had the same number of Sword Counters. He gains additional Sword Counters after Astra completes equal to the number of attacks landed, and he does not lose Sword Counters on missed Astra attacks, unless all attacks miss.

Echo Blade (Ex): At 5th level, anytime the Trueblade threatens and confirms a critical hit, he may immediately make another attack with the same bonuses. This additional attack gains Thousand Cuts bonuses, but does not affect the number of Sword counters, even if it misses. Echo Blade cannot trigger itself. Vermillion Gusts cannot trigger Echo Blade.

This attack draws from the same pool as the Trueblade's Attacks of Opportunities and is limited to one per round unless he has the Combat Reflexes feat or equivalent.

Bonus Fighter Feat: At 7th level, and every sixth level onward, the Trueblade may select a bonus feat from the list of Fighter Combat Feats. His effective fighter level for this purpose is equal to his class level minus three.

Uncanny Dodge (Ex): At 9th level, the Trueblade can react to danger before his senses would normally allow him to do so. He retains his Dexterity bonus to AC (if any) even if he is caught flat-footed or struck by an invisible attacker. However, he still loses his Dexterity bonus if immobilized.

If the Trueblade already has uncanny dodge from a different class he automatically gains Improved Uncanny Dodge instead.

Parity Duel (Su, Mind-Affecting): At 9th level, if the Trueblade and an enemy threatens one another, he may, as a standard action, make a Concentration check opposed by the target's Will save. If he succeeds, he forces the target into a duel. He and his target may only make full-attack actions on one-another on their respective turns. As long as the Trueblade's Concentration check continues to overcome the target's Will save, the Parity Duel continues, this opposed roll is made on the Trueblade's turn on every subsequent turn, and the enemy gains a cumulative +3 to its Will save for each turn after the first. This bonus to Will saves is applicable only towards escaping the Parity Duel and persists for 24 hours. The Trueblade can end the match at any point as an immediate action.

During a Parity Duel, the Trueblade's Sword Counters add to his attack rolls and AC (dodge bonus) as opposed to his attack rolls and damage. If he fells an opponent during a Parity Duel, he regains his CHA mod in rounds of Steps of the Wind, up to his maximum for the day.

At 18th level, the Trueblade can dispel any one magical effect on his enemy (his choice, automatic success) on successfully initiating a Parity Duel and once every round he maintains the Duel. In addition, Parity Duel loses its [Mind-Affecting] descriptor.

Trueblade (Ex): At level 20, the Trueblade gains Weapon Supremacy with his chosen weapon, even if he does not meet the prerequisites for the feat. In addition, a missed standard or iterative attack only decreases his Sword Counters by 1.


Edit 1 (9/9/2014): Updated to remove some needless dice rolling, as well as clarified other skills.

Edit 2 (12/13/2014): Now with 100% more spoilers, reworked Parity (now Parity Duel), reduced Thousand Cuts scaling and capped the number of Sword Counters. Added more synergy between Astra, Iaido, and Vermillion Gusts.

[Fizban]

First I assume that if this had already been playtested it would be in the post. I'm sure most people will take one look and figure it's ridiculously broken, but let's go over it in excruciating detail. And let's hope that people don't decide my one wall of text is enough to end the thread? I'm only one man and I probably won't post again for a week if at all.

-Free Spirit/Evasion/Uncanny Dodge: fast guy defensive abilities, no one should be arguing with these.

-Step of the Wind: Rounds/day speed boost that upgrades into concealment and flight. Aside from using "full concealment" without specifying if other creatures can see his location and/or target him (invisibility vs. displacement), and the fact that maneuverability less than perfect is annoying (you can't charge upward and have to do extra math), this is huge but fine. There's also the interaction with Astra knockback later, since as written you'd have to activate this while moving the round before and continue it in order to use the combo.

-Flurry: terrible choice of name since it overlaps with Flurry of Blows and every other ability that has ever mimicked it. Not entirely sure if it builds by 1 per strike up to the number on the table, or adds the number on the table with every strike (I'm sure you meant the latter but it's worded poorly). Pretty sure most people will say this needs a cap and that depends on how many hits it takes to kill someone and the assumptions about how combat is supposed to work. Some people (uberchargers) say a fight should be over in 2-3 hits so this ability is useless, others would say that by the time you've hit them enough to build this up they should already be dead, and others that the ability means death is inevitable. They're basically all right since if you keep getting hit then you'll eventually drop, and if you've got enough hit points to take a few hits you should have clobbered him back by now. If your game involves lots of classed humanoids (effectively making most fights PvP) this class will be broken. If your game involves fights against multiple monsters with lots of hit points then probably not as much. This ability I think is actually the one that would require the most playtesting and make the biggest wave at the table. Also, as mentioned below, having to track this ability and tracking it differently for each special attack slows gameplay to a crawl. It should read something like "Only increases based on standard or iterative attacks, and is only lost when those attacks fail." Unfortunately there is some nuance to that (Haste is not an iterative attack but I'm sure most people would count it and it is a normal attack so is it fine?), but you get the idea.

-Vermillion Gusts: a "move and full attack" ability, people have been putting this on the monk for ages and char OP gets it with barbarian dips. It doesn't increase the combo counter or trigger Astra but I'd like it if they also didn't get Iajutsu Strike damage. Also, force has never been a damage type despite what people will have you believe: the technical term would be a magical [force] effect. Magic ignores DR and force effects ignore etherealness and incorporeality, meaning the Trueblade has a pretty dang reliable method of bypassing DR (desperately needed for a multi-hit class) and is good at fighting ghosts, handy.

Just noticed the bit where you have to have "Flurry" on them and thus already hit them. This runs completely counter to the rest of the ability: much like a monk having speed but wanting to full attack, this gives you the ability to make multiple attacks after moving but only after you've already moved up to hit them. Certainly takes the fangs out of it but makes no sense.

-Weapon Finesse: since this is linked to a later much more powerful ability (extra crit multiplier) it should be named differently. Revealing the crit connections explains the lack of options-all the weapons are 19-20 so they'll perform the same. Also, a dex focused class that gets Weapon Finesse free but not until 3rd level is just punishing you for playing at level 1-2, lame.

-Iado: drawing and sheathing weapons never provokes anyway so there's no point mentioning it. The potential attack bonus here annoys me but it could probably be compared to Stormguard Warrior and giving up a turn usually ends poorly anyway. This class stack enough to-hit bonuses that I could see even their last iterative attack being worth throwing and they certaintly want it. Strike from the Void has always been bonkers, but at least cha is a teritary stat. This helps push the class over the edge in PvP/classed NPC fights since with a little buff you can double the damage on your first round auto full sneak attack, which is one of the reasons Vermillion Gusts should give up Iajutsu damage. Note that having Iajutsu Focus maxed is basically the same thing as having full levels in a Ninja's Sudden strike, you've given the Trueblade an ability almost as reliable as Ghost Step for activating it, and Strike from the Void will double it or more.

-Fighter Feats: I don't like it when a class with this many features decides it needs 2/3 of a fighter's bonus feats as well, while stealing their fighter-only feats. Even Warblade only does 1/4 and gives you a -2 on your effective fighter level.

-Astra: the big one. Limited somewhat in that tactical play should keep you from rolling it constantly for a while (Gusts don't trigger it, bottom iterative attacks should be dropped for Iado to preserve "Flurry" bonus, and of course iterative attacks take a while to kick in). Haste, and targets with terrible armor class like humanoids, will negate this and trigger many more Astra rolls, but even at 11th it's gonna get nasty. Obviously this is the big sticking point of the class, having one player making dozens of percentile rolls and attacks that are basically percentile rolls and crit confirms that are the same means unless they're wicked fast at rolling and you just tell them the AC it's gonna take forever. If you want it to be taken more seriously I'd suggest hard capping it at no more than 1/round, regardless of power level (% roll or actual activations, either). The damage calculations and "Flurry" count that happen in between attacks means that you have to roll each attack separately, making it take longer: you could streamline it by removing those problems and re-writing the ability to roll all dice at once.

-Astra (knockback): I find this ability mostly superfluous, and again it has more rolls and calculations than needed. And why do ground targets go straight up when airborne targets more in any direction (even towards you)?

-Echo Blade: if "Flurry" applies to all attacks then you shouldn't need that reminder, however due to the murky nature of crit-immune enemies it could use a note about what happens if you confirm a crit in that situation. It's a nice reward for people that do crits (not that you have any choice), but the class already has crit powers coming up later and extra attack rolls in Astra at the same level, and how does this interact with Vermilion Gusts anyway? Heck, this is a decent enough way to stat an Astra in normal DnD terms. So keep one or the other, and consider linking it to the rest of the crit abilities.

-Parity: this is an interesting ability, although it once again makes the Trueblade a PvP monster since humanoids are completely reliant on magical AC bonuses. Unlike Fire Emblem AC doesn't go up with level (and variant that provide it are still slower than BAB), so this is basically death. Wording could also use work: It sounds like you mean all active spells, supernatural abilities, and both temporary and constant magic item effects. Furthermore this absolutely needs a line "with regards to the Trueblade only," otherwise you've created the ultimate unstoppable walking debuff that doesn't even need to fight. I have no idea how it's supposed to interact with Antimagic Field here since it makes no sense to remove the AMF from your target, while you've given the Trueblade the ability to ignore AMF. As cool as I think it is this should probably just be replaced by the feats on the Mage Slayer line, otherwise it's just too good.

For future reference, note that Antimagic Field doesn't actually block the activation of anything: it only suppresses all effects within it's area. Arguments can be made about the activation of magic items or supernatural abilities being themselves magical (if you can't pull the trigger it doesn't matter if the gunpowder is wet), but casting a spell itself is an extraordinary class feature. It's entirely possible to cast a spell on yourself inside the field and then walk out, with the spell popping up once you exit.

-Lethal Critical: no problems here, this is half of how one should go about buffing crits and 1 round disabling is pretty popular. Could be upgraded to include Iajutsu Strike damage.

-Trueblade: Really? No. 2d20 take the better is ridiculously good, and this just adds even more rolling to bonus rolls on your bonus rolls and no. By this point you shouldn't even need it: any single landed hit gives a +7 on all future hits? All your rolls are just fumble/ability activation %.

Comments, critiques, ponies? I realized that VG and Astra are a little bit competitive with each other, one was designed to quickly build up Flurry bonuses, the other for pure, unadulterated damage. I fell short on inspiration in the later levels, and may have front-loaded the class a little bit (a lot), any suggestions on better division of special abilities would be appreciated. Also, the capstone is a bit meh.

My main intention was to create a melee class that can easily disrupt caster-type enemies and be generally a pain in the ass to shut down with spells. He's super frail with a d6 of health and no armor proficiencies. But, I figured, given ridiculous movement bonuses, a smart player can avoid melees fairly easily to focus on priority targets.

Finally, would you, in your personal opinion, play this class?
Most of the class abilities are at odds with or complicate each other, but the main ideas are sound. Building up a damage bonus to compensate for low strength, getting multiple attacks even after moving, and throwing in a chance of even more attacks are good. VG can't be used when closing in because you have to have already hit them, Astra can't be used to build up damage reliably because it's a random chance and tracking through it is ridiculous, Echo Blade is practically the same thing as Astra at the same level, Iado doesn't seem to realize how huge it is, and Parity/Nihil are beyond epic in power. Lack of armor proficiency only matters early on since once you pass +8 dex mod you can't use any armor worth noting anyway. Front loading isn't too bad due to dex requirements but since he needs to build up his attacks I'd expect chasing down casters to be less fun even if VG is made for it.

The class is a PvP monster that probably wouldn't break the game if the party fights monsters all the time, but against classed NPCs the battle is no contest. If nothing else it's the most unique and ambitious Fire Emblem class I've ever seen. I wouldn't play it without some serious tweaks and/or playtesting, but I was interested enough to write this post.

[Amechra]

Steps of the Wind needs to have a minimum bonus; as it is, if my Dex drops to 10, my base speed is set to 0, which is a pretty big weakness (happens 10 points earlier than normal.) Oh, and if I somehow have a negative modifier (ability penalties come to mind), I slow down (at least until I hit 6th level, where I have negative speed).

Parity is... vague. It works, but it's the kind of thing that brings up arguments at the table. I'm not sure what to suggest in ways to 'fix' it, and make it less contentious.

Astra... I would suggest changing the % roll to an ability check against some appropriate DC (maybe a Dexterity check against a DC 15?), and to cap it at once per round.

EDIT: Rereading Steps of the Wind... I misread it. You might want to change the wording to 'they gain a bonus to their Base Land Speed equal to 5 times their Dexterity modifier', since 'bonus speed' isn't a thing in 3.5. Still, there's the issue of 'accidentally I a penalty to my speed' that needs to be dealt with.

[InfinityArts]

Made some edits (thank you for the feedback).

To further clarify my intentions: I designed this class with PC vs creatures in mind. It needs to be self-reliant enough to dive deep into enemy ranks and take out a key priority target. This meant good Will and Reflex saves and means to shut down being... shut down by things like ridiculous grapple checks and save-or-lose spells.

TL;DR for changes:

Removed easy Iaijutsu Focus option from SotW (slightly painful), made it more compatible with Astra
Reworked Vermilion Gusts as more of a finishing move, imposed limits to prevent spamming
Limited Astra to activate only once per round (I hope), removed needless extras. Though I did have to resort to adding X to Y. Will rework Astra more when I am more creative.
Renamed Flurry (Thousand Cuts) and weapon-specific abilities (Sworn to the Blade)
Reduced Fighter Feats to 1/6 levels, starting at 7

Some issues still need to be worked out:

Echo Blade rework
Magical flight's interaction with Parity (and other similar effects)
Trueblades with DEX not worth a damn (though that's more your fault, not mine)
General balance issues

Just letting you all know I'm very enthused about working this class through its kinks and getting it into a polished, playable version. Thank you for all the help.

P.S. Just realized how cheesy it would be to stack Sword counters with Stormguard Warrior touch attacks, then multiplying all that flat +damage with a VG crit. *shudders*

[silphael]

First question that stroke my mind is... why aiming for low-mid T4? Swordmasters/Trueblades are considered to be one of the most OP class in FE, being the strongest non promoted class, and close behind sage after promotion (and even that point is odd IMO). They aren't builded for skirmishing in FE... they are mean to be strong frontline destroyers, with enough dodge/defense/HP to survive anything you could possibly throw at them. I mean, even in hellish difficulties like HH from FE 7 you can still send one lonely Guy into the battlefield and mash a part of the map, with a reliably high chance for him to survive, which... no other class can do, except in their specialty (generals against skirmish like swordsmen, hector against pegasus, and so on).

Well, basically, I think targetting T4 is probably hurting you somehow.

Plus, so far most comments looks like a "mundane can't have nice things", but that's probably just me ^^

Edit : You may want to consider using Nabarl instead of Zihark... just because he is the real big deal, Zihark is just a plagiarist. Hell, why not go all out on Karel as well, and name the class Kensai? I know there is one, but Karel rocks all.

[InfinityArts]

I don't think Nintendo originally wanted to make swordfighters the most OP class in the game (though I agree with you, they are pretty broken). I'm designing with the original designers' intent in mind, a squishy, fast class with extremely high damage output but still very fragile. As for why it's T4... Because mundanes can't have nice things, and people would yell at me if I even breached T3 level.

But in all seriousness, it's a lot easier to start low and buff up later as opposed to making them broken right off the bat. My hope is to eventually bring in all the Fire Emblem classes as fully specced out 3.5 base classes. Most will be T3 (imagine that, playable generals!), with the spell-casting classes maybe T2 or T1 (I'm looking at you, Sages). They should all have a niche, and a party of fairly average (read: not GitP members) players should be able to enjoy playing as them (and those that don't play them should be able to enjoy playing alongside these characters in a campaign).

Re: Nabarl: Couldn't find good art to use, and I wanted to use Lyn instead, but then I would have had to come up with some explanation for how her bow skills are so much better than her sword skills.

[InfinityArts]

Shameless bump.

Now that the semester is over, I can spend more time fixing stuff.

See the first post for changes, everything should be more readable/understandable, if not balanced. Would appreciate any and all input.